Free Chariots of the Gods by Erich von Däniken Page A

ago an unknown space-ship discovered our planet. The crew of the space-ship soon found out that the earth had all the prerequisites for intelligent life to develop. Obviously the 'man' of those times was no homo sapiens, but something rather different. The space men artificially fertilised some female members of this species, put them into a deep sleep, so ancient legends say, and departed. Thousands of years later the space travellers returned and found scattered specimens of the genus homo sapiens. They repeated their breeding experiment several times until finally they produced a creature intelligent enough to have the rules of society imparted to it. The people of that age were still barbaric. Because there was a danger that they might retrogress and mate with animals again, the space travellers destroyed the unsuccessful specimens or took them with them to settle them on other continents. The first communities and the first skills came into being; rock faces and cave walls were painted, pottery was discovered and the first attempts at architecture made.
    These first men had tremendous respect for the space travellers. Because they came from somewhere absolutely unknown and then returned there again, they were the 'gods' to them. For some mysterious reason the 'gods' were interested in passing on their intelligence. They took care of the creatures they bred; they wanted to protect them from corruption and preserve them from evil. They wanted to ensure that their community developed constructively. They wiped out the freaks and saw to it that the remainder received the basic requirements for a society capable of development.
    Admittedly this speculation is still full of holes. I shall be told that proofs are lacking. The future will show how many of those holes can be filled in. This book puts forward a hypothesis made up of many speculations, therefore the hypothesis must not be 'true'. Yet when I compare it with the theories enabling many religions to live unassailed in the shelter of their taboos, I should like to attribute a minimal percentage of probability to my hypothesis.
    Perhaps it will do some good to say a few words about the 'truth'. Anyone who believes in a religion and has never been under attack is convinced that he has the 'truth'. That applies not only to Christians, but also to the members of other religious communities, both large and small. Theosophists, theologists and philosophers have reflected about their teaching, about their master and his teaching; they are convinced that they have found the 'truth'. Naturally every religion has its history, its promises made by God, its covenants with God, its prophets and wise teachers who have said ... Proofs of the 'truth' always start from the centre of one's own religion and work outwards. The result is a biased way of thinking which we are brought up to accept from childhood. Nevertheless generations lived and still do live in the conviction that they possess the 'truth'.
    Somewhat more modestly, I claim that we cannot possess the 'truth'. At best we can believe in it. Anyone who really seeks the truth cannot and ought not to seek it under the aegis and within the confines of his own religion. If he does so, is not insincerity godfather to a matter which demands the greatest integrity? What is the purpose and goal of life after all? To believe in the 'truth' or to seek it?
    Even if Old Testament facts can be proved archaeologically in Mesopotamia, those varified facts are still no proof of the religion concerned. If ancient cities, villages, wells and inscriptions are dug up in a particular area, the finds show that the history of the people lived there is an actual fact. But they do not prove that the God of that people was the one and only god (and not a space traveller).
    Today excavations all over the world show that traditions tally with the facts. But would it occur to a single Christian to recognise the god of the pre-Inca culture as the genuine god